Salma Hayek identifies with character's pain

Actress Salma Hayek found it easy to identify with her 'Tale of Tales' character's desire to become a mother

Salma Hayek related to her character's desperate desire to have a child in new movie 'Tale of Tales'.

The 49-year-old actress - who has daughter Valentina, eight, with husband Francois-Henri Pinault - plays a childless queen who is willing to do anything to conceive in the film and Salma admitted she could identify with the character.

She said: "I understand how painful it can be to want a child and not be able to have a child, just as I understand how painful it can be to let your children go.

"I went through all the different emotions - [as she was] desperate to get pregnant. It was fascinating to experience this as an actress."

The film is a darkly comic take on the fairy tales of 17th century author Giambattista Basile, and her character goes to extreme lengths to realise her dream of being a mother, at one stage gorging on the boiled heart of a sea monster.

Now that Salma is a mother to Valentina, she admitted her movie career has taken a back seat.

She is currently filming 'The Hitman's Bodyguard' with Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L Jackson, but is increasing picky about the work she takes on.

She explained to Metro: "I only work in the summer or in situations where I'm never apart from her. That's why I also only take films in Europe or around her holiday schedules. It gets complicated."

Meanwhile, although 'Tale of Tales' is loosely adapted from a 17th-century collection of fairy tales, Salma believes it will resonate with modern-day audiences.

She previously said: "This is a film from the point of view of women. And I think it was very beautiful because the three conflicts are about love, which I think is the most important thing about us. Mine is about a woman who is desperate to have a child. And of course inside we hope the child will love us forever. Then of course, the fear we have that we will not be loved anymore. And the third is, this thing of, am I going to find the love of my life that I can live with and love forever, and can love me back? And I think that these are things that woman can relate to and the way he (director Matteo Garrone) treats the stories, although it is a period piece, it's almost like a horror because he takes this fear and desperation and ultimately the horror of that. So it is very contemporary, the film feels very modern."